My initiative is designed for and delivered in London
Yes
I am 18 years of age or above, by the application deadline.
Yes
My organisation is a registered UK entity and has a London-based address.
Yes
My organisation is a non-profit (e.g. school, university, or local authority) — not a for-profit, which can only join as a partner.
Yes
If there is a for-profit organisation as a partner in my initiative, they work on a cost-recovery basis only.
Yes
My solution is implemented at scale, or if not, I have a clear business plan, a minimum viable solution (prototype, pilot, or proof of concept), evidence of access to a lease for the space you are leveraging, and evidence of work or impact in London within your coalition.
Yes
I am aware that, if I am submitting more than one application to a Challenge run by Ashoka and Go! London, only one of them is able to progress through the stages.
Yes
Are you an employee (and their children and grandchildren) of Ashoka or any of its respective affiliates and participating advertising and promotion agencies?
No
I have read and accepted the Challenge Terms & Conditions.
Yes
First Name
Asma
Last Name
Choudhery
Pronouns
She/Her
Email address
I would like to receive notifications and updates about Go London!, Ashoka, Ashoka Changemakers, and other Ashoka opportunities.
1
Are you an Ashoka Fellow?
No
Are you applying from an organization founded by an Ashoka Fellow?
No
If you are applying from an organization founded by an Ashoka Fellow, please specify the name and organisation of the fellow below.
Lead Organisation Name
The Ahoy Centre
Year that you started/ registered your organisation
2000
Initiative Title
Girls Getting on The Thames
My initiative is designed for and delivered in London
1
Website URL(s) or Social Media Handles
https://ahoy.org.uk/
Initiative Stage
Idea (You have a solid concept and are hoping to get started in the future)
Sectors/Themes: What topic does your project most directly relate to?
Children & Youth
Initiative Summary: Describe your initiative in one sentence
Girls Getting on The Thames reimagines the River Thames as a safe, inclusive and affordable space for sport and play, providing girls in South London with access to sailing, rowing and powerboating, accredited qualifications, and leadership pathways to ensure previously excluded young people belong on the water.
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve and who will benefit the most from your solution? How close are you to the problem and/or community impacted?
Girls face persistent inequalities in access to sport, outdoor education and accredited skill development. These boroughs include areas of high deprivation, where families often lack the financial means to access specialist activities such as sailing, rowing and powerboating. Despite living alongside the River Thames, many young people have little meaningful or positive engagement with it. The cost of equipment, club membership and transport creates a significant barrier, particularly for families in the highest IMD areas. This inequality is compounded by gender. Girls’ physical activity levels drop sharply during adolescence, and they remain underrepresented in water sports, which are often perceived as male dominated. Cultural expectations, limited female role models & lack of confidence can further restrict participation, particularly for girls from global majority backgrounds. As a result, many miss out on opportunities to develop resilience, leadership, teamwork & accredited qualifications that can support future education and employment pathways. This matters because physical activity and structured enrichment opportunities are strongly linked to improved mental health, confidence & social connection. In communities where young people may face economic pressure, limited access to green & blue space, & reduced extracurricular provision, the consequences of disengagement are significant; including lower wellbeing, reduced aspiration & fewer progression routes. We see first-hand the gap in provision for girls and the transformative impact that safe, structured water-based activity can have. By creating a supportive pathway into water sports, we are addressing both immediate inequalities in access and longer-term barriers to confidence, opportunity & skills.
Your approach: How are you/ will you addressing the problem outlined above? How does your solution unlock or reimagine access to spaces for sport and physical activity? What role do landowners, local authorities, or other decision-making stakeholders play in your approach? We'd love to know about the origin of your idea, and what was your "aha" moment" that led you to take action?
Our approach is to remove structural, financial and cultural barriers that prevent girls from accessing the Thames as a space for sport, learning and personal development. Girls Getting on The Thames provides a structured, girls-only pathway into sailing, rowing and powerboating, combined with land-based indoor rowing and education sessions. By covering equipment, instruction and accreditation costs, we eliminate financial barriers. By creating a dedicated female-focused environment, we challenge stereotypes and build confidence where girls feel safe and supported. Participants progress from intro sessions to RYA qualifications, volunteering, creating a clear pathway rather than one-off experiences. Our solution reimagines the Thames not as a backdrop to the city, but as an accessible community asset. Many girls living near the river have never been on it. We unlock this space by working in partnership with schools and community organisations to actively recruit girls from under-resourced backgrounds, particularly those from global majority communities and high IMD areas. The river becomes a place of belonging, skill-building and achievement. We work collaboratively with local councils and river-based partners to ensure safeguarding and alignment with borough priorities around physical activity, youth engagement/wellbeing. Their support strengthens sustainability helping embed the programme within local s strategies. Our “aha” moment came when we realised proximity does not equal access. The Thames was visible but not available to many girls in our community. At the same time, we saw how transformative water-based sport could aspiration. That led us to design a programme that centres girls, removes barriers, turns the river into a pathway for opportunity.
Collaboration with young people and the community: In what ways does your initiative engage young people and community members closest to the problem? What role do they play in building the solution you deliver?
Girls Getting on The Thames is being designed with a clear commitment to co-creation. While the programme responds to well-evidenced local need, we are intentionally building structures that will place girls at the centre of shaping how it develops and grows. In its first phase, we will embed regular youth voice sessions within delivery. Participants will take part in facilitated discussions & reflection activities each term to share what is working, what feels challenging and what they would like to see introduced. Their feedback will directly inform session design, competition formats, progression pathways and the balance between on-water & land-based activity. We will establish a small Youth Advisory Group made up of participants aged 13–18 who want to take on a leadership role. This group will meet termly to co-design elements of the programme, contribute ideas & advise on how we engage more girls from their schools & communities. They will also help shape how we communicate the programme to ensure it feels relevant and welcoming. We know this works; one of our current Trustees was a girl when she joined us! Older participants will be supported to progress into peer mentor & volunteer roles, assisting with indoor rowing sessions & supporting younger girls during activities. This creates leadership pathways and ensures the programme reflects the voices & experiences of those closest to the challenge. We will also engage parents & carers through open days and celebration events, creating space for community feedback and building trust around water-based participation. By embedding youth voice & shared decision making from the outset, we are ensuring the programme evolves in response to the girls themselves and remains grounded in their lived experience.
Potential for/Evidence of Impact: How do you imagine your initiative will make a difference in unlocking spaces for and access to physical activity and sport so far? If you have already implemented it, what difference have you made so far? What is the impact your initiative has had , and or what impact do you envision having in the future?
Girls Getting on The Thames unlocks access to a space that has historically felt out of reach for many girls living around the River Thames. By providing structured pathways into watersports, we remove cost and confidence barriers and create meaningful access to the Thames as a space for sport and personal development. Initially, we will engage at least 18 girls aged 8–18, with at least 50% from global majority backgrounds and 50% from high IMD areas. Participants will take part in regular on-water and land based sessions, with clear progression routes toward RYA qualifications and competitive opportunities. At least six participants annually will progress into volunteering or peer leadership roles, building sustainability and community ownership. In the short term, we expect to see increased physical activity levels, improved water confidence and the development of essential life skills such as teamwork, resilience and communication. These outcomes will be measured through attendance data, qualification achievement, volunteering uptake and participant feedback. In the longer term, the impact is deeper and more systemic. By normalising girls’ presence on the river and in traditionally male-dominated water sports, we challenge stereotypes and shift perceptions within the community. Participants will gain accredited qualifications, leadership experience and a sense of belonging in a space previously perceived as exclusive. Over time, as our cohorts progress into mentoring and volunteering, the programme creates a visible pipeline of female role models from within the same boroughs. This builds aspiration, strengthens community ties to the river and contributes to sustained increases in girls’ participation in physical activity.
Innovation: What is different about your initiative compared to other solutions that are already out there? How is your approach original and innovative?
Girls Getting on The Thames is innovative because it reframes the River Thames, a highly visible but often inaccessible space, as an inclusive, female-centred sporting environment for under-resourced girls. While water sports programmes already exist, they are often club based, mixed gender, and dependent on families having the confidence, finances and cultural familiarity to engage. Our approach tackles root barriers: cost, confidence, representation and belonging. By removing financial barriers, targeting girls from high IMD areas and global majority communities, and creating a girls-first progression pathway, we are not simply offering sessions, we are redesigning access. Our model integrates on-water activity (sailing, rowing, powerboating) with land-based preparation, education and leadership development. This layered approach builds confidence before participants get on the water and ensures progression beyond participation. The inclusion of accredited RYA qualifications and structured volunteering routes creates tangible outcomes and long-term pathways into sport, employment and leadership. The initiative also challenges spatial norms. Many young people live near the Thames but feel it is “not for them.” By centring girls traditionally underrepresented in river-based sport, we shift who is visible and who belongs in that space. We embed youth co-creation and peer leadership from the outset. Participants help shape delivery and progress into mentoring roles, building a pipeline of local female role models. Rather than creating a parallel programme, we work within our existing river infrastructure while reshaping who can access it, addressing structural exclusion and shifting longstanding gender and socio-economic norms around sport and space.
Viability and Scalability: How are you setting your initiative up for success, and what is your plan to ensure operational sustainability of your solution and its impact? What are your ideas for scaling your initiative to the next level?
Girls Getting on The Thames is designed with long term sustainability in mind. We are building partnerships with local groups, schools and community organisations across Greenwich, Lewisham and Tower Hamlets to ensure strong referral pathways and shared use of facilities. As an existing watersports Centre on the banks of the River, we have the existing river infrastructure and community space, so we can reduce capital costs and focus resources on delivery, qualifications and progression. We're aiming for embedding a clear progression model in the future: participant → accredited qualification → volunteer/peer mentor. By supporting girls each year into volunteering roles, we build internal capacity and create a pipeline of future assistant instructors, strengthening sustainability from within the community. We are aligning the programme with local authority priorities around physical activity, youth engagement and mental wellbeing. This increases opportunities for strategic partnerships, in-kind support and longer-term commissioning. A blended funding model which combines grants, local partnerships and revenue income will diversify income and reduce reliance on a single source. To scale, we plan to grow in phases. Firstly, we want to deepen delivery within the initial boroughs by increasing cohort size and session frequency. Second, expand access by partnering with additional community organisations and exploring delivery with other London partners. Third, develop a clear, replicable delivery framework that can be adapted by other urban water sports providers. By combining strong local roots with a practical growth strategy, we aim to sustainably expand girls’ access to water-based sport across London.
Roles and Responsibilities: Describe how responsibilities are shared among your team or partners.
Girls Getting on The Thames is delivered through a collaborative approach, with responsibilities shared across the AHOY Centre and local partners. Our Centre will lead on coordination and delivery. We design and manage the programme, provide qualified instructors, oversee safeguarding and ensure sessions run safely and effectively. We are responsible for participant experience, progression into qualifications and volunteering, and monitoring impact. Local schools and organisations help connect us with young people who would most benefit. They raise awareness of the opportunity, encourage participation and support communication with families. Their involvement helps ensure the programme reaches girls who may not otherwise access water-based sport. Local developers and community stakeholders support the wider aim of increasing access to positive activities for young people in the area. Their contribution strengthens long-term sustainability and community reach. By sharing responsibility across delivery, outreach and community support, we create a joined-up approach that strengthens impact and sustainability.
Upcoming Milestones: Please provide an overview of the milestones that are required for your initiative to come to fruition/to grow.
Phase 1: Preparation and Partnership Building (Months 1-3) Formalise partnerships with local schools and community stakeholders Confirm session timetable Secure initial funding and review equipment Promote the programme and open participant referrals Milestone: First cohort of 18 participants recruited and delivery schedule confirmed. Phase 2: Pilot Delivery (Months 4–9) Deliver weekly on -water (sailing, rowing, powerboating) and land-based sessions Introduce indoor rowing and water safety education Begin RYA qualification pathway for eligible participants Embed regular feedback and youth voice activities Host a mid-point review with partners Milestone: Participants actively engaged, with initial qualifications underway and strong attendance rates. Phase 3: Progression and Leadership (Months 10-12) Support participants to complete RYA qualifications Introduce friendly competitive opportunities Identify and train at least six girls as peer mentors/volunteers Host celebration event with families and partners Milestone: First cohort completes programme, with qualifications achieved and volunteer pathway established. Year 2 Growth Milestones Increase cohort size or add additional delivery block Strengthen local authority relationships for longer-term support Secure multi-year or diversified funding Formalise youth advisory group These phased milestones ensure structured delivery, measurable outcomes and a clear pathway from pilot to sustainable growth in reimagining the River as a place for Girls.
Capacity-Building Participation and Support Funding: If you were to make it as a finalist, you will be required to participate in an 8-week capacity building programme. If funding/ cost is a barrier to your participation, we may be able to offer up to 10,000 GBP of grant money available to support you. Please break down below, if it is the case, what costs you would incur and you would need covered. (Please note that there are restrictions on how the grant money may be used; please refer to the T&Cs for further details.
Upcoming Milestones Phase 1: Preparation and Partnership Building (Months 1-2) Finalise partnerships with local schools and community groups Confirm programme schedule, staffing and safety processes Secure initial funding and equipment support Develop safeguarding, monitoring and evaluation frameworks Launch recruitment and outreach Milestone: First cohort of 18 participants recruited and session timetable confirmed. Phase 2: Pilot Delivery (Months 3-8) Deliver weekly on-water sessions (sailing, rowing, powerboating) and land-based training Start RYA qualification pathway for eligible participants Embed youth voice sessions and feedback loops Run a mid-term review with partners to refine delivery Milestone: Consistent attendance and early qualification progress, with participant feedback shaping delivery. Phase 3: Progression and Leadership (Months 9–12) Support participants to complete qualifications Introduce friendly competition and celebration events Identify and train at least six participants as peer mentors/volunteers Host a showcase event for families and community partners Milestone: First cohort completes programme with qualifications, volunteering pathways and strong community engagement. Year 2 Growth Milestones Increase cohort size or add additional delivery blocks Strengthen council relationships for longer-term support Secure multi-year funding and partnerships Establish a Youth Advisory Group to co-create future programme design These milestones provide a clear pathway from pilot to sustainable growth, ensuring the programme is deliverable, impactful, and scalable so we can truly reimagine the River as a place for girls.
